Hi everyone! My name is Michele C and I am the PTO President-Elect (another name for vice president this year and president next year) at Webster Hill School in West Hartford, CT. Our school has 431 students. Our board consists of: President, President elect, Treasurer, Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, Volunteer Coordinator, Events Coordinator, Webmaster and Living Courtyard Liasion. We also have two teachers who sit on our board.
I have two children at the school--Cait is in 3rd grade and Greg is in 1st. We started school last week (8/30) and we have already had four events at the school sponsored by the PTO.
1.Before school started, we created a newsletter that was mailed to every family at the school. We called it the "Webster Hill PTO News". It contained a calendar of events and 6 articles. Most of the articles explained things going on at the school during the first few weeks. Our intention is to send out 4 newsletters during the year.
2. The day before school opened, the PTO brought pizzas and homemade goodies to the teachers who were feverishly setting up their classrooms to start the school year. Our school has been undergoing renovations and a new addition, so teachers were not allowed to enter the building until two days before school started. What usually takes at least a couple of weeks for them to move their "stuff" in and get set up needed to be accomplished in two days! The benefit of having someone else worry about bringing in lunch and snacks was really appreciated!!
3. On the first day, we did a back-to-school breakfast/social for parents. After they dropped their kids off, they were invited into the cafeteria to say hi to old friends, etc. Attendance was great and we provided materials for the parents to learn more about the PTO....copies of the newsletter, volunteer enrollment forms and an informational brochure called "Did You Know?..." It is a brief overview of the school--a very helpful tool for new parents to the school.
4. The second day of school the PTO sponsored a "Back To School Dinner Picnic". We coupled it with a "new Family Night". Families were invited to bring a picnic dinner and come to the school to enjoy the great late summer evening with friends, with an opportunity to meet new people and catch up with those they hadn't seen since June. We had some teachers come, but the teacher attendance was lower than we had hoped. Of the 22 classroom teachers, only 6-7 came to the picnic. Our PTO board attributed that to the fact that the weather was rough (90 degrees with really high humidity) and also the fact that the teachers had spent an unbelievable number of hours at the school during the week because of classroom setup, etc. Those that came really said they enjoyed themselves.
For the new family event, we created a trivia hunt that contained about 50 questions about the school. The instructions were for families who had been at the school for one or more years had to find a family who was new to the school and help them answer the questions. It was so funny when even the principal didn't get all of the answers correct! A light-hearted way for people to learn quirky things about the school. i.e. What is the school mascot?, who is the keeper of the bandaids?, who dresses as a cowboy every year for Halloween?, who hiked up a volcano this summer, name the kindergarten teachers, name at least2 teachers who got married this summer, what year did the school open?, etc. Other questions were related to specific programming including our Living Courtyard, "specials" teachers (art, library, gym, music) etc.
We also had 4th and 5th grade students serve as wandering reporters--The PTO created three question forms and the students wandered through the blankets at the picnic and asked questions such as: Name one thing you liked about the back to school newsletter, name one thing that could be improved with the newsletter, Give one suggestion for a school improvement or purchase that could be made by the PTO, if you could suggest one new fundraiser, what would it be.....(you ge tthe idea). The students loved having something to do and we got solicited feedback from our family body--from across the school! It was great. We got lots of great feedback and the families really felt like their ideas were welcomed! We have a meeting with the principal next week to share the ideas and work through a game plan to meet the needs and respond to what families told us.
I have rambled enough....what is new with everyone else?
MicheleC Connecticut
